


A Glaring Catastrophe

by c0cunt



Series: JeanConnie week 2015 [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cats, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5461073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connie does know what's best for their savings, but at the same time he'd rather not.  Jean has to remind him constantly.</p><p>Based on <a href="http://shynii.tumblr.com/post/103257314084/the-springer-household-is-probably-filled-with">this artwork</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Glaring Catastrophe

   Jean was going to tear all his hair out.  He and Connie had had this exact same argument time and again, yet he always appeared to be the bad guy over it.  Seriously, wasn’t Connie the bad one for continuously instigating it?  He sighed as he stared up at Connie, who was still ranting and waving around a flyer that had sparked their argument again. 

   “Connie, I love you to death, but for fuck’s sake getting a pet isn’t a good idea,” Jean sighed, completely cutting into Connie’s newest reasoning for why they should get a pet (something about having a nice foot warmer or something?).  Either way, Jean just plain wasn't buying it.  Nor were they about to dip into their savings to kitten or puppy proof their apartment.  Which was something that Connie continued to attempt to disregard. 

   “But Jeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!”  Connie whined, flapping the flyer around more vigorously, “the shelter needs more fosters for the kittens!  Think of the kittens, bro!”  And oh no, there was the pout that Jean absolutely could not stand up against.  But, thinking about putting a down payment on the house of their dreams would have to keep him strong.  So with pursed lips, Jean continued to shake his head. 

   “You know as much as I do that we should be saving up right now, especially for when our student loans come to bite us in the ass.”  Jean was going to be the reasonable one, even if it killed him as he saw the excitement slowly fade in Connie’s face, replaced with defeat.  Jean felt like the biggest jerk to ever exist as Connie’s eyes grew glassy and he mumbled a heartbreakingly sad “I know”.  Even as Jean pulled Connie into a quick hug and apologized for being such a downer, he swore to himself that Connie would get a pet, even if it killed their savings.

 

* * *

 

    With that promise in mind, very slowly, Jean prepared their apartment.  Outlet covers, taping down wires, and (regretfully) tossing the lilies that were somehow still alive after two years of sporadic care.  Small, cheap purchases he could easily hide in their closet were made; a collapsible cat carrier from a yard sale for $3, metal bowls from the clearance shelf, and a plastic litter box with a scoop all ended up shoved into the back of the closet.  Marco and Eren were surprisingly big helps, hiding the giant cat tree that Jean had purchased almost without thinking, with only minimal sighs and head shakes.  Connie only seemed to suspect something when he looked at the bundle of receipts that seemed about to burst from Jean’s receipt box, when he had been searching for one of his own receipts (Jean had a tendency to hoard any and all receipts that he could find, one of the few things that surprised Connie when they first started dating). 

   “Man, that’s a lot of stuff from Petsmart...And Petco…From someone who says that we aren’t getting a pet...”  He said slowly, narrowing his eyes at Jean, who had frozen like a deer in headlights when he had entered their bedroom.  Connie was sitting on the bed, legs stretched out in front of him, with Jean’s box open, spilling at least ten receipts from both places in front of him.

   “I thought you said we shouldn’t get any pets, since we’re supposed to be saving up.”  He said mockingly, the smirk in Connie’s voice was evident at being able to toss back the words that Jean would always argue was the most logical thing to do for them. 

   “I felt like an ass-” “Which you were!” “-and I just wanted to make you happy, okay?”  Jean crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance.  Connie wasn’t the type to take the piss out of him when he realized how serious Jean was being, all he could do was hope that Connie could tell just how serious he was being.  When there wasn’t the loud, braying laugh that Connie always mockingly used around him, Jean relaxed a little bit.  Connie bounded off their bed in a graceful leap (quite an impressive leap, at that, and it was at times like these that Jean really remembered that Connie had spent the past ten years dancing competitively), and smashed into Jean in a semblance of a hug, winding both of them. 

   “So...A cat?”  Connie wheezed into Jean’s shoulder, getting his breath back first.  Jean nodded, leaning his chin against the top of Connie’s head.  

   “Looked at stats,” Jean huffed, still a bit winded, “more cats than dogs need homes, so we’ll get a cat.”  Connie’s muffled squeal of delight made him smile, the two of them swaying in a circle slowly, neither of them really ready to let go, Jean tipping his head down to leave tiny kisses on the top of Connie’s head.  Connie quickly tilted his own head up to catch one of Jean’s tiny kisses, a happy hum (almost like purring, Jean thought with another smile) resonating in his chest.  

 

* * *

 

   What had started out as one foster cat, quickly became two, which then snowballed from there into five cats (three of which were fosters, and two they had outright adopted).  Jean was always grumbling under his breath when he came home and saw all the hair everywhere, but he couldn’t be mad about it.  Especially not when both Connie and the cats (two of them, the ones the shelter had named Bertie and Reiner) would come and welcome him home, with rumbling purring that relaxed Jean more quickly than anything else.  But the best thing about having the cats was just how much happier Connie was, when the fluffballs swarmed all over him as he watched TV or attempted to read something from work.  The tiniest cat, that the shelter had dubbed Krista and was supposedly an adult (though Jean doubted that, it was barely bigger than a kitten), had a tendency to sit patiently on Connie’s shoulder.  Obviously it didn’t bother Connie, as Jean had seen him look confused when Krista wasn’t perched on him.  The two cats they had adopted, that Connie had dubbed Tinsel and Holly, didn’t get any sort of favoritism over their fostered siblings, which Connie was very strict about.   

   “We don’t want them feeling like they’re being left out,” was Connie’s favorite phrase now, constantly reminding Jean not to give extra table scraps to his obvious favorite, Tinsel.  He couldn’t help it, even though he’d heard more than enough comments on how gross a hairless cat was from Eren.  Tinsel liked Jean best, padding at his side, and hopping up onto the kitchen counter to watch him make food.  Seeing as Connie was the clear favorite among all their other cats, Jean didn’t feel bad about favoring Tinsel.  None of the other cats seemed to mind, especially when Jean would bring home an adorable sweater to put Tinsel into and coo over (she seemed to tolerate it, at least).

   And well, yeah, they were expensive, but they were totally worth it.  Connie was over the moon, Marco gave them a discount when they came to his vet practice when they brought all the cats for check ups, and Jean was now a lot less stressed about making payments on their loans.  Though it would be nice to move into a bigger apartment (or, even more ambitious, the adorable house that had been on the market for almost a full year that Jean passed every day on the way to work), it would just have to wait for now.  Jean was fine with waiting, if it meant having Connie and their cats happily by his side to wait with.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that a group of cats is called either a clowder or a glaring?


End file.
